Long Overdue
by PaperScribbles
Summary: She forgives him because they're nakama. In which Nami leads a sick Zoro back to the ship, and he tells her something that should have been said a while ago.


Over the course of time, perhaps in the last six hours or so, something very unpleasant had been gnawing at the edges of Roronoa Zoro's conscious. He had tried to push the thoughts to the back of his cluttered mind, but they always had a way of sneaking back into the front, slipping through the cracks of his now muddled memory and sitting on his brain.

To be frank, it was really pissing him off.

They had been walking for quite some time, through the tall trees that stood in eerie companionship while lush vegetation glinted with dew from last nights downpour. She's walking beside him carefully, trying not to trip on any rocks or tree roots that pulled themselves up from the ground below.

"Are you gonna be okay?" She asks for the upteenth time, giving him a glance through the corner of her eyes. Those same, insistant thoughts come floating back, tapping their ghostly fingers on his temple. They whispered in his ear.

_We're not going anywhere and you know that..._

"M'fine," Zoro responded back, while Nami takes one big step over a bright pink, exotic flower in her path and quickens her pace to keep up with his long strides.

"Don't worry," Nami says, brushing a few wayward strands of ginger hair from her face. It was awfully hot out today. "we'll be back at the Sunny soon."

"I'm not worried."

"Well, of course," A teasing smile is crossing her face. "I'm here guiding you, after all."

Zoro gives her a frown, though it's hard to do so because his head is pounding and any facial movement makes it worse. He really should have been more careful, but that dumbass cook wasn't around and he hadn't eaten anything all day. When Nami found him slumped against a large tree, arms folded while he crushed a fruit resembling a coconut under his boot, she put two and two together and yelled at him for nearly ten minutes.

_"What the hell is wrong with you?! Eating some random shit you just find hanging from a tree! What you ate was poisonous, don't you know anything?!"_

It went on like that for quite some time until she noticed the pinched look on his face and decided to walk him back to the ship.

So far, he hadn't really been experiencing any horrible type of pain aside from the discomfort in his head, but it was enough to get under his skin and grind his teeth together. And with his mounting guilt that just _won't. go. away, _it caused for some serious frustration.

"I'm such a fucking idiot,"

His words snap Nami out of her endeavor to safely cross the overgrown forestry-ridden path ahead of them and she turned to look at him. It was rare for Zoro to really express how he felt. He never talked in a low voice unless it was something serious or he was very angry. So naturally, the navigator was worried.

"It's alright," Nami tries to keep the surprise out of her voice. "you didn't know, it was a mistake."

Zoro gives a grunt, his stomach lurches slightly and he bites the inside of his cheek, trying to walk in a straight line. He wasn't exactly talking about his endeavor with the poisonous fruit, but he didn't have the energy to explain.

"Whatever." He blinks rapidly to focus his eyes, blaming it on the sweat trickling down his forehead at the sudden blur in his vision. Damn forest.

"Besides, once we get back to the Sunny, we can get you looked at by Chopper. There's some extra be-"

"I'm sorry."

The words are rushed together and strained, pressed up against each other with little room to breathe. At first, Nami thinks she may have misheard him, and furrows her eyebrows together.

"Huh?"

"I said," Zoro repeats, voice lingering on the edges of a growl and he clears his throat. "_I'm sorry."_

Nami is silent for all of two minutes, and when he sneaks a glance at her she still looks confused.

"Sorry? About what?"

Perhaps is was the pounding in his head that made him stumble, or the slight shock he gets from hearing her say that. Did she really not remember?

Oh God, this was harder than he thought. Zoro was in no way a spiritual person but was silently praying to every God out there for any signs of mercy as to not explain why he was apologizing. He prayed for a sudden earthquake, or for the toxic substances now running its course through his veins to suddenly burst in and kill him.

When no action was taken, and Nami had begun to frown in impatience, the swordsman exhaled a sigh and decided to elaborate.

"About..our fight. Remember, from two days ago?"

He's avoiding her face, but can tell from her voice that she still doesn't get it.

"Oh," then, like a bolt out of the blue, it comes to her. _"Oh."_

They had their usual arguments, it was nothing short of unordinary, but this one had been especially bad. Their voices licked with angry sparks and doused in forest fire flames. His comeback to her calling him a heartless bastard was immediately hurtful, Zoro could tell the minute the words left his mouth. Nami didn't show it though, instead, she split her knuckles and broke the skin of her hand when it balled into a fist and connecting with his mouth, effectively causing his upper lip to bruise and making his nose bleed. He had never felt a punch like that from her, it was the kind that meant business, it wash made of pain and hellfire.

The bruise had long since faded from his mouth, and his nose sustained no injury, yet it still hurt on occasion. After that, they didn't talk. In fact, this was their first conversation since it even happened.

"Yeah," Zoro scratches the back of his head awkwardly. "So...sorry."

"It's fine," Nami states but he doesn't believe her.

"Is it?" His heart is pounding erratically loud in his ears.

Nami nods. "I know you're sorry, Zoro. I could tell moments after it happened."

"Really?"

"Yes. You stayed in the crows nest and drank for two days straight. I'm surprised you didn't die."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was waiting for you to come right out and apologize," she bends down to avoid hitting her head against a low hanging branch as she continues to walk. "You owe me a fridge worth of beer for the insult, by the way."

"Are you serious?!"

Nami laughs wickedly and suddenly, points. "Oh look! We're here, see?"

Zoro squints his eyes as the Sunny comes into view, majestic and unbridled as it sat on the waters edge. Relief settles on his shaking shoulders. Saliva pools disgustingly in his mouth.

"Cool. So...you forgive me?" Zoro has to be sure, he needs to reassure himself that everything was okay between them.

"I forgive you." Nami gives a smile brighter than the sun that trickles through her saturated, orange splattered hair.

"Good."

He turns away from her and throws up.


End file.
